Conclusion
So now lets’ break down each section of the Galaxy Note 2 and give them a nice conclusion and really sum the Galaxy Note 2.
Design
Obviously the first thing anyone will notice about the Galaxy Note 2 is the sheer size of it and at the beginning this can easily be overwhelming, but after a while of using the device you will come to the same conclusion. This is the size a smartphone should be. It’s very difficult to even try and go back to a smaller device. When smartphones came out it was soon realized that there was something missing and it was simply tablet sized versions of them. Tablets become nearly as popular as smartphones themselves. Then Samsung decided to bridge the gap and so came the original Note which took the world by surprise and was hugely successful. It was the perfect device for those that felt tablets were too large, but still wanted a larger screen than highest sized smartphones. The same if not more can be said with the Note 2 as the screen has gotten even bigger, while keeping the size of the device smaller. Making it even more of an impressive device.
When holding the Galaxy Note 2 in your hand you will instantly feel the amazing build quality and solidness of the device and not just that, it’s actually one of the most beautiful looking smartphones in the world.
Screen
The most important factor among any high-end smartphone is of course the screen itself and let’s face it, if the screen is terrible, then your experience is going to be pretty awful. The screen is how the user interfaces and it should be said that any decent smartphone should have the best possible screen it can. That is again where the Note 2 shines with its 5.55-inch Super HD AMOLED screen. This is simply the best AMOLED screen we have seen. The colors, brightness and sharpness are just amazing. The original Note and Galaxy S3 have a PenTile display which means the sub-pixels are Green > Red > Green > Blue > Green > Red, basically keeping green and alternating between red and blue.
The RGB display on the Galaxy Note 2 has Blue > Green > Red on each sub-pixel making for much better color representation. Not to forget the brightness as well, the Note 2 packs one of the brightest AMOLED displays on any Samsung smartphone yet. The added bonus is that the display has a 16:9 ratio, which makes for a much more pleasurable viewing experiencing when watching 16:9 videos, but especially 720p videos as each pixel than represents a different piece of information, which the original note was unable to do due to the different ratio and it included black boarders at the top and bottom when watching 720p videos.
The screen on the Note 2 is easily one of the best we have ever seen on a smartphone and really puts the Note 2 on top alone.
Camera
Since the camera on the Galaxy Note 2 is same as the Galaxy S3, we weren’t expecting much difference. just the usual minor tweaks in performance. It was a surprise when we saw that photos turned out to be even better and videos were coming in much clearer. We began to think this was due to the screen being much better, but we loaded up the pictures on a computer and were easily taken by their quality. The camera also allows for slow motion video as well, which to be honest isn’t something we can see people using a lot, but it’s fun to use once and a while.
Looking back at the pictures and videos we took we just love the colors and crispness of them. Samsung kept the Camera at 8MP, but the quality of the videos and images speak for themselves and are really top notch.
S-Pen and TouchWiz
The Note series includes the S-Pen and of course this is a stand out feature. This time Samsung have quadrupled the amount of points of contact for the S-Pen, this makes for an even more accurate stylus when writing or drawing. Samsung also include the S-Pen when using TouchWiz launcher. The entire S-Pen brings extra functionality for navigation. The hover feature covers most of the device, allowing you to control your smartphone like never before and we just love the fact that Samsung included the S-Pen more throughout the device this time. TouchWiz has never felt smoother this time around and this may be due to the added performance the Galaxy note 2 offers, but none the less it just feels like it couldn’t be faster
Performance (Benchmarks)
The benchmarks performed really showed one thing for the Note 2. It’s the fastest smartphone on the market. On Geekbench 2 we saw it beat the top previous devices by a couple of hundred points, putting it well in the lead and the same can be said for pretty much all of the benchmarks. This performance was obvious throughout the device with the MultiWindow features for true multitasking and overall we didn’t experience a moment of slowness/sluggish behaviour and the Note 2 handled everything that was thrown at it. This includes games as well. We loaded up GTA 3 and Dead Trigger and the Galaxy S3 was able to handle them like they were low level games. In fact we played a nice video using pop up video while playing the games and the Galaxy Note 2 didn’t even bump a little and had nothing but solid performance all around.
Battery
The battery on the Galaxy Note 2 is huge coming in at 3,100mAh and since the Galaxy Note 2 is a powerhouse it obviously consumes a lot of power, so we weren’t expecting huge results. The Note 2 blew use away without tests. We set the brightness to full and on a heavy usage day which involves mostly 3G usage with some WiFi, drawing and writing with the S-Pen, Streaming over an hour of video and around 20-30 minutes of calls. We saw it reach the end of the day with around 40%+ battery left. The battery was able to hit over 5 hours screen on time with full brightness before actually dying. This is a true heavy usage device. Samsung have done some serious work under the hood for this device and it really shows.
Overall
It can easily be said at this point that the Galaxy Note 2 is the best smartphone on the market. The size may not suit everyone, but to be honest that is the only down size of the device and we just hate the idea that some people will turn away before having the pleasure of getting use to it and realizing that it’s the perfect device if you really are after a best smartphone. We had no issues using it for phone calls or it fitting in our pockets if some may think and gripping the device is no different than any other smartphone like the One X or Galaxy S3.
The Galaxy Note 2 is the perfect smartphone for those looking for the functionality of tablet with the portability of a smartphone. The Galaxy Note 2 offers the best performance beyond any tablet or smartphone we have seen and also includes the beautiful S-Pen which allows for personal writing, messages, control, navigation, drawing and more. The Note 2 is the first device to truly offer multi-tasking and even does it before tablets. This puts the device well beyond just a hybrid smartphone/tablet. It’s a true mobile computer. Hands off to Samsung for making what we consider the best smartphone (mobile computer) on the market. The Note 2 is a serious upgrade from the original Note with added doubled performance, better screen and one hell of a battery and more S-Pen features. The best feature we really thing is the true multi-tasking, this we can see going a far distance and it congratulations to Samsung for ushering it in.
Page 1 – Specifications
Page 2 – Design
Page 3 – Camera performance(Photos and Video)
Page 4 – Dispaly, TouchWiz and S-Pen
Page 5 – Benchmarks
Page 6 – Conclusion
Great review!
Ye should give the phone to me now! 😉 I’ll bake ye all cookies, that ok?